The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber prices improve

Sheet rubber RSS 4 recovered to Rs 74.50 and Rs 75 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 73 a kg on short covering and fresh buying at lower levels.

“The Chairman’s statement is a great relief to us,” a grower told Business Line.

“We are hopefully waiting for the outcome of the exporters meeting.”

The volumes were better since covering groups and purchase agents were comparatively active during the session.

The market made all-round recovery in all grades and latex.

Futures better

The domestic futures improved further quoting the August contract at Rs 78.50 (75.50) a kg for RSS 4 on MCX.

The July contract for the grade flared up to Rs 76.99 (74.03), August to Rs 77.87 (74.88), September to Rs 78.04 (75.04) and October to Rs 78.13 (75.13) per kg, while the volumes stood better 3,151 (2,737) lots on NMCE.

The open interest was 6,934 (7,025) lots with 2,293 (2,420) lots in July, 2,623 (2,699) lots in August, 1,182 (1,102 ) lots in September and 836 (804) lots in October.

The August futures for RSS 3 improved to ¥256.5 (Rs 84.67) from ¥254.4 a kg at TOCOM.

Its spot slipped marginally to Rs 84.17 (84.46) a kg at Bangkok.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: Rs 74.50 (Rs 73); RSS-5: Rs 71.50 (Rs 70.50); Ungraded: Rs 69 (Rs 68); ISNR 20: Rs 71 (Rs 70.50) and Latex 60%: Rs 56.85 (Rs 55.80).